A plane took off from Paris on Tuesday at midday and is en route to Niamey airport to evacuate the first French nationals from the capital of Niger, a source informed of the operation told AFP on Tuesday. evacuation. This source declined to give details on the time of return of the device.
The Quai d’Orsay announced this morning that France had decided to evacuate its nationals from Niger on Tuesday, “given the situation in Niamey”. He justified this decision by the “violence which took place against our embassy the day before yesterday and the closure of the airspace which leaves our compatriots without the possibility of leaving the country by their own means”. Last Wednesday, a military coup overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum and thousands of pro-coup and anti-French protesters gathered outside the French embassy in Niamey on Sunday. The building was targeted
A first plane took off from Niamey
A first plane evacuating mainly French people took off Tuesday evening from Niamey and will land “at the beginning of the night” at Paris-Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs announced to AFP, a few days later. the military coup in Niger. “There are 262 people on board the plane, which is an Airbus A330, including a dozen babies,” said Catherine Colonna. “Almost all of the passengers are compatriots,” she said, adding that there were “a few European nationals”.
Other passengers, “with more Europeans”, were boarding a second plane around 6:20 p.m. GMT. It will take off soon, also from the civilian airport of Niamey, also indicated the head of French diplomacy. “There are 600 French people who have clearly expressed their intention to leave and there are just under 400 Europeans,” she also said. A third flight is scheduled.
The evacuation of French soldiers is “not on the agenda”
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the evacuation of French soldiers present in Niger, insistently demanded by the putschists, is “not on the agenda”. The evacuation operation only concerns civilians, French and European nationals.
A hundred French nationals await their evacuation at Niamey airport
“The French ambassador is on site. Given the contacts and knowledge of the country he has, he is concerned about the physical integrity of French nationals”, explains General François Chauvancy at the microphone of Europe 1. According to him, he is the best person to launch an evacuation intervention.
Around 100 French nationals were waiting outside Diori Hamadi International Airport in Niamey early Tuesday afternoon, before a first flight organized by France to evacuate them, nearly a week after the coup in Niger, noted an AFP journalist. French nationals are the only travelers at the airport. They arrived in private vehicles, with small bags, as requested by the consulate, which informed them on Tuesday at dawn of the organization of a voluntary evacuation.
The Nigerien police are present there alongside around twenty French soldiers in civilian or military uniforms, who specify that boarding will be done as “in a classic airport”. A first plane bound for Niamey took off from Paris on Tuesday at midday, said a source informed of the evacuation operation.
600 French still in Niger
Another source informed of the operation had told AFP earlier that France would send unarmed military planes to evacuate French and Europeans – on a voluntary basis – wishing to leave the country after the coup last week. These planes have a capacity of more than 200 passengers.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates that some 600 French people are currently in Niger but it has not communicated on the number of them wishing to be evacuated. A large number of French people usually residing in the country are also currently on vacation, outside the country.